


Fifth Day-Quatervois

by Fionnalina



Category: The Long Walk - Richard Bachman
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:33:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24042910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fionnalina/pseuds/Fionnalina
Summary: Stebbins had won, he was going to be taken to his father's house and everybody was going to know it.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 7
Collections: Long Walk Week 2020





	Fifth Day-Quatervois

Stebbins’s sight was getting black, he thought maybe it was blood falling on top of his eyes from somewhere he couldn't feel anymore, but he kept walking.

He had to keep walking, he had to keep walking, just a little more and he would get everything he had ever wanted. 

Just keep walking.

“Stebbins” He felt a hand on his shoulder.

“What?” He answered but he couldn't quite recognize who was talking to him, McVries or Garraty but McVries had sat down, what if he had stood back up and he just hadn’t seen it, it was possible, he had to walk whomever this was down.

“I'm going to sit down now” The voice whispered, he felt about to pass out, his knees gave up they were on the same level now.

“Uh?” 

“I am going to sit down. You won Stebbins.”

“Oh, I see” He placed his hand on top of the voice’s he didn't know why it felt fair to do so now.

“Goodbye, Stebbins.”

“Goodbye.”

The voice stopped walking. Stebbins didn't.

He kept walking, somebody was shot behind him, he kept walking. 

“Everybody give it up for The Winner of The Long Walk!” Some news reporter woman yelled into her microphone, The Crowd cheered louder, Stebbins was still walking, hands reaching out to him.

The jeep stopped on the middle of the road, Stebbins knew who was coming from there, he wished rules applied to him too, so he could finally get shot.

The Major stepped out of his jeep, Stebbins finally stopped right in front of him, just like at the beginning he didn't say anything, The Major had to acknowledge him first here, he had to.

The Major placed one hand on his shoulder, Stebbins reached for it, and threw it off.

“Don't touch me” The Crowd gasped, a shared sharp intake of breath, but The Major simply raised both hands in front of his face, as if he were being detained, a smile in his face, his eyes still hidden, and The Crowd calmed down again. 

“Okay boy, no touching” Boy; he didn't like to be referred to as such, not by this man at least.

“So, how should we get started?” The Major said, Stebbins could see the dried blood dripping down his hair into his face, reflected on The Majors sunglasses, but he could take care of that later. he could have all the doctors in the world if he did this first.

“Take me to my house.”

“That all. Kid? You sure you don't want to go anywhere more exciting?”

“Personally, I think a trip to the White House is fairly exciting, more so, because I have never been there, Dad” The words tasted like venom on his own tongue, it was humiliating to say Dad out loud like that, but it was worth it, it was worth it if it finally erased that fake grin off the Major’s face.

“Take him to the jeep” He ordered one of the soldiers, Stebbins stepped back, hot red pain creeping from his soles to his knees, but he had to keep walking, he got out of the soldier's range, before he touched him.

“I can walk on my own, I have been doing it for five days” The soldier looked to The Major for approval, it bothered Sebbins. He had won, he had finally won, he was The Winner of The Long Walk, everybody should be doing as he says now.

The Major gave him one look and nodded, the soldier didn't try to grab him anymore, but he walked awkwardly close to him, it reminded Stebbins of something that had happened way too long ago. 

The Major sat beside him, his expensive cologne just recalled Stebbins he was soaking in sweat. 

“I won you have to take me” Stebbins said, staring straight at him, he had to look at him now. 

“I can take you on a tour through my house, but you're not my son.”

“But I am.”

“I don't even know who your mother is.”

“That changes absolutely nothing” Stebbins squeezed his fists together, his nails craving into his paper-like skin, he had heard a person’s nails keep on growing even after they are dead “You are taking me to my house.”

The Major took out a cigar and puffed out the smoke, creating a grey cloud in the middle of them. 

“You are getting pretty demanding kid.”

“I won, aren't you supposed to be demanding after that?”

The Major took another swing at his cigar “Okay kid, I'm going to take you to the White House, you can move there even, if you want, but you are not my son.”

“But I am!” Stebbins screamed, it felt like coming out of the water after almost drowning, he had almost forgotten how his own voice sounded like.

“The public doesn't need to know that. I got my own fair share of boys and girls with my actual wife.”

Stebbins held back the need to scream again, he thought, he had been thinking long term his whole life, he could keep doing it.

“Okay” Stebbins said “Take me there first, then bring some doctors or whatever I'm going to need there.”

“Ya got it, kid.” 

The Major kept smoking the whole time.

Stebbins ignored the roads, and the people starting to pack up and go away.

He was sick of all of them, he had been sick of it all since he had first learned of The Long Walk and now he was finally done with it, up until THe White House came into view

“We are here, Sir” The driver said. Stebbins was finally here, finally here, he was here and now he was going to make it all worth it, all the sleepless nights, walking on the rain, living his life afraid of some mystical figure on TV, he was going to take payback for all of it, he had managed to survive, now he had all the time for it.

The Soldiers opened up the doors, followed them to the gate where a new set of soldiers accompanied them, they were wearing different uniforms, but at the end that was everything they would ever be, his father’s soldiers. 

“Do you want the doctor, or the tour first?” The Major asked as they stood in the entrance of the mansion, servants already lining up.

“The doctor” Stebbins was about to allow himself to be tied down to a bed for a long time, but he knew his legs wouldn't withstand much more of this, once the adrenaline was completely gone, he was sure he would pass out.

The Major got his phone out, and made a quick call. 

“They will be here immediately” The Major told him, then he yelled to one of the maids “He will be staying with us now, take him to one of the empty family rooms.”

The Maid seemed taken back, but she only left that to last a second, she nodded vigorously, looking like one strong blow would send her flying away, Stebbins felt a little bad for her.

“Sir, Please follow me” The Maid spoke to him, Stebbins didn't know how he felt about the title, he nodded and The Maid took him down the halls.

“This is one of the family rooms” She said opening the door, the inside looked awfully mundane, compared to the image Stebbins had always had of the place “If you so desire, you can stay here.”

“This looks like a guest room.”

“We can go check other rooms if you desire.”

“No, I take this” He knew the appearance of the room wasn't all that important, what represented was what mattered, and he was running out of energy to go room by room.

“Okay, Sir.” 

He walked in, sat on the bed, it jumped up and down. This was the most expensive, most comfortable place he had ever been in, and he hated it.

“Do you have anything from your old residence you wish for us to bring here?” The Maid asked him, both hands very carefully placed in front of her skirt, she looked like a tall doll.

Stebbins thought back of that old almost empty swiney he used to live in, about all the ripped and mangled old books, he looked down at himself, they had changed his clothes. 

"My green sweater."

“Okay, Sir. Do you have anything else you wish to ask for?”

"No.  When’s the doctor coming?”

“I don't know the exact time, would you like me to go check?”

“Yes, and don't forget to close the door on your way out.”

“Okay, Sir” She turned back, closed the door carefully, Stebbins wondered if even the doors here made noise all the time.

He got his feet on top of the bed, groaning with the effort, he left his head fall on the pillow, Stebbins stared at the white ceiling in front of him, he was already getting sick of this place too. 

* * *

“Sir, The Doctor is here” He opened his eyes as The Maid knocked on his door.

“Come in.”

The Maid opened the door, a doctor, and a lot of other people stepped in, Stebbins sighed he didn't feel interested in any of these people at all. 

They stared at his covered feet, as if they could see right through his clothes into the mangled blood and purple colored mess that was his flesh. 

They looked like at him like an impossible experiment, Stebbins didn't like that gaze at all.

The Head of The Doctors was going on and on about something, Stebbins zoned him out.

“Do you understand that, Sir?” The Doctor said.

“I’m getting a headache” He touched his scalp again, running his hands through the dirty blond strands, he felt something sticky, he got his hand down, he was bleeding again.

“Sir!” The Maid said, and everything went dark.

* * *

Stebbins opened his eyes, he couldn't tell if the ceiling was the unpainted cement walls of his old house, or the beautifully constructed and taken care of his father's, it seemed to have the same worth, he didn't think he would have felt this way.

“Sir, Are you awake?” The Maid whispered, Stebbins wondered if she had any other job to be doing. 

“What happened?”

“You passed out a few minutes after the doctors came in, they treated your injury, they explained that one of the blood vessels near your eyes popped, and they treated your feet as well, but you shouldn't stand up yet” She waited until Stebbins nodded “It's been a pair of weeks.”

“Weeks?”

“Yes, Sir. You slept for a long time” She looked shyly to the ground “Do you want me to call the doctors so they can explain this all better to you, Sir?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, Sir.”

She came back with the doctors, Stebbins listened to them this time, not like their medical terms really clarified anything at all.

“You won't be able to stand up for a good while.”

“How much?”

“We should first wait about a month with no movement at all, check how you are doing after that, then we may go into physical therapy, but you must understand this could possibly last a lifetime.”

“How much?” 

The Doctor coughed awkwardly “Let's give it at least a couple months.”

The Doctor went off to explain something else again, Stebbins stared off the window while he did so

* * *

“The doctors are here” The Maid said, a couple of months had gone by, between eating through intravenous, passing out in the middle of the day, staring at the ceiling, and doctor visits. 

Stebbins nodded, The Maid greeted them into the room, then she went back outside to stand around the door, having her there had become the usual.

They stared at his bandaged feet, the maid came in every 4 hours to change them, it was bothersome.

The Doctor gave his usual speech, Stebbins tuned him out until he got to the important part. 

“We are going to try to stand up today.”

“Finally?”

He chuckled at that, it made Stebbins feel like a little chill, he was probably 18 already, he didn't know what month it was.

“I still believe we could do with more time, Sir.” 

“Finally” Stebbins repeated, avoiding The Doctor's eyes.

“Okay” The Doctor sighed “Let's take the bandages off” He said to one of the nurses, or whomever the other people were. 

The nurse approached him, kneeling down to the floor, surgically removing, the bandages, one piece at the time, after the third round he was beginning to wonder if he even still had feet underneath the tape.

The nurse let the last piece touch the ground, revealing the mass of horrifying rotting flesh he had now. 

No medical pressure could take those five days back, Stebbins knew that, he had read every article, he had memorized all the winner's deaths, even the ones that survived and ended up killing themselves trying to restore their bodies, to what could never be now. 

He got to the edge of the bed, The Doctor offered him a hand, he didn't take it. 

He put all his weight on his hands, and propulsed himself upwards. 

“Ah!” A small scream came out of him, ripping his lips, when was the last time he had actually spoken loud inside this place.

“Easy, easy, there boy” The Doctor said, both arms out as if he were ready to catch him.

“What did you just call me?”

His eyes widened, he took his hands back “Please spare me, Sir.”

Stebbins nodded.

“Stand up as straight as you can, so that the soles are completely touching the ground.”

Stebbins straightened his back, feet flat and naked on the floor, feeling the coldness of the marble creeping up his legs, the whole room held its breath, the doctors stared at him, expecting him to fall, for his knee to give up and die, just like he should have done back then, just like everybody else had done.

Stebbins wasn't going to fall here.

He stood straight for what felt like an eternity. 

“Do you think you can walk?” The Doctor carefully asked him.

Stebbins raised one leg, like a soldier, like he had always been taught to march, it hit the ground, then the other, walking didn't feel like walking anymore, it just felt like breathing.

He walked a little, from the center to the wall.

“Okay! That's all right now.”

“That's all?”

“Yes. We will still have more tests to run, we can't trust only one, after all, but you are truly having a miraculous recovery, you can actually walk and stand very well, and it hasn't even been that long.”

“And that isn't common.”

“No it isn't” Stebbins could tell The Doctor was speaking softer to him, way more casual than he would usually be, with this wannabe youth tone, it felt condescending at best.

“Do we have anything else to do?”

“No, Sir.”

“You are dismissed” The Doctors shared those weirded out looks they always did whenever they ended the sessions, Stebbins had found those amusing at the beginning, now they were only annoying.

“Alright, Sir” They stood up and went outside, said something to The Maid and then go lost down the hallways.

“Should I come in now Sir?”

“No. Go get me a sandwich I'm hungry.”

“Yes, Sir.”

* * *

Stebbins forced himself to walk, even when The Doctor said he should take a break if he wanted his legs to ever truly heal. He walked because that's everything he had been doing his whole life, not doing it now was anxiety-inducing.

He had taken to walking all over the high wing he was on, but he was growing tired of it, he was growing tired of the same walls and same rooms, he was growing tired of having dinner by himself in his room, he hadn't done all of that just to be seemingly pleased, and then immediately dismissed.

He wanted to have dinner on his father's big table tonight, and he was going to have it.

“Sir, where are you going?” The Maid asked him, he thought he should know her name by now.

“Downstairs.”

“Sir I don't think-” But she seemed to catch herself “Okay, Sir just let me go with you, in case any incident happens.”

“I never said you couldn't.”

“Yea-Yes Sir” She walked behind him.

Stebbins held himself up with the wall, and walked very slowly, having to straighten his back each time like The Doctor had told him, to he felt 80 at 17.

“It's over here, Sir” She said taking a turn to the left, towards a different set of stairs.

“Why do you people have so many staircases?” The Maid didn't answer, she just shrugged.

They slowly got downstairs. 

* * *

"You are here" The Major said as Stebbins stood in front of the dining table, an unnecessary monstrosity that stretched through the whole room, there was nobody else there, but one boy and a couple of servants. 

"I am." 

"I thought the doctors didn't let you walk yet" The boy said eyes fixated on his spoon, very obviously trying to play it cool. Stebbins didn't know what exactly his father had told his siblings about him.

"I don't ask for their permission" Stebbins said to him, he walked closer to the table, to The Major "I want to have dinner here." 

"Are the maids not treating you well, we can replace them if that's what's bothering you" The Major said, looking at The Maid up and down, she immediately  tensed up. 

"She's good. No need to do anything to her" He heard The Maid breath out in relief, he was happy for her "I want to eat here tonight, isn't the winner supposed to get everything he wants?" 

The Major stared at him, as if waiting for him to drop it, but Stebbins didn't, he was too tired and stubborn to drop it. 

"Yes the winner gets his every heart's desire" The Major said then called out to one of the velvets "Open one chair for him, get him his plate" The velvet nodded and got the chair for Stebbins.

Stebbins grabbed himself to the edges of the tabñe, and slowly lowered himself onto the chair. The boy's face had fallen into disbelief, mouth hanging open now. 

"You may want to close that, you will get flies in" Stebbins said to him.

"Do we really have to eat with this intruder, Dad?" The boy yelled at his father something stung in that interaction.

The Major stood up and walked up to the boy, he slapped him, right palm connecting fully against the boy's face. 

The boy looked up at him, with teary wide eyes, holding the quickly redding side of his face. 

"I let you get away with a lot because you are my son and I love you, but you don't speak to me like that in my own house." 

"... No, I'm sorry Dad" The boy said looking down, back at his plate quickly, eating without looking up again. 

Stebbins received his plate, it was delicious, he was sure, he couldn't taste it at all, his father had dismissed The Maid some time ago, the boy hadn't spoken again, he had expected something different, why did people never truly got their way? 

"Sir, You have a call by The Squads" A man with an uniform reached a phone to his father . The Major quickly raised from the table carelessly cleaning his face with a napkin and letting it fall on the table 

"Dad's gotta work,  see you later boys."

"Goodbye Dad" The boy said and The Major took off with the man.

"Why does he speak to you like you are something of his too?" The boy spoke to him now,  with a free resentful range.

"You should take care of your words,  don't want to get slapped again, do we?" 

"Who do you think you are?" 

Stebbins sighed, seeing this boy with his dad had tired him out, he was starting to think the Walk had taken all his energy forever.

"Piss off" Stebbins stabbed one piece of meat, with the fork that probably costed more than his mother's finest jewelry "I'm not planning for this to last much longer either."

The boy stared weirdly at him "Whatever,  freak" He said stood up and let the non-finished plate there.

"What a waste" Stebbins grabbed the rest of the meat, and ate it.

* * *

He starter to have dinner with them each night, just to spite them, he was sure of that. 

"You seem very able to walk now, Sir" The Maid told him, accompanying him back up to his room. 

"Yeah" Stebbins still had his hands on the wall, feeling the texture of the wallpaper, but he didn't think he needed much anymore, The Doctor said so too.

The Maid opened the door for him, he took a seat in his bed, she remained in her perfect posture beside the door.

"Do you need anything else?"

"A gun."

"I'm sorry Sir, what?"

"A gun. You have a lot laying around so I don't see why this should be anything hard."

The Maid gulped down "What gun exactly?"

* * *

"Are they still here?" Stebbins asked, a book in hand.

"Yes." 

"They are going to get shot."

The Maid smiled awkwardly.

The journalists had been there all this time, he had been unwell enough to be able to ignore them, but he couldn't anymore, they were calling out for him to give interviews and photographies on TV as if he didn't look like a walking corpse. 

But Stebbins didn't want them to leave yet, they were the ones who had to be there to listen to his message.

"Do you want to give a declaration today, Sir?" The Maid was obligated to ask him that daily, apparently.

"No" He lowered the book to his night desk "But I do want to do something."

"What? Sir."

"Where is Ray Garraty buried?"

* * *

"Take me there" He had asked The Maid to call one of the many driver's this place had, he hadn't bothered to explain anything to any of them. 

"Alright, Sir." 

"Safe travel, Sir."

Stebbins nodded, the driver opened the door.

They went down Maine, where Garraty lived and died, the families were allowed to keep and bury the corpses, for Stebbins that felt like a consolation prize.

They stopped in front of a small graveyard, bronze rusting metal, the smell of autumn leaves, and the definitive sensation that something dead was living here. 

The driver opened the door for him. 

Stebbins stepped inside the graveyard, he didn't ask which one was Garraty's, he traveled through them all, reading names, and scriptures.

Stepping over dusk and bones, just like he had stepped over that boy in the start. 

He finally stopped in a lone corner. 

**Garraty Raymond Davis**

**xxxx-05-05-xxxx**

**Throw me to the wolves I’m used to it**

The dirt still smelled fresh, suddenly he could feel the dirt and blood on him again, the smell of sweat, and death, and something rotting inside of you. 

He felt his knee give up.

Stebbins retched on the floor, he slammed his hand against his mouth, trying to keep the contents in. 

He had outlived him, he had won, he could take this, he had been there when he died, he could take the corpse. 

He swallowed the vomit, it tasted like caviar. 

He read and reread the words in Garraty’s grave. 

Garraty was one of the two people who knew, and now the whole world was going to know. 

Everybody was going to know. 

* * *

At some point it had turned night, and he had gotten back in the car, it was past midnight when they got back. 

The Maid was waiting in front of his door.

"Welcome back, Sir." 

"Hi."

"Are you going to want anything for dinner? The Master and The Young Master both already ate, but the chefs still prepared your plate."

"No" He approached the window, the press was still there, just like The Crowd everlasting and engulfing, a grand mass of all, of one. 

"But?" The Maid said, Stebbins grinned she was starting to get familiar, but that was one thing that didn't bother him. 

"But I do want to call the press."

She looked surprised "When?"

"Tomorrow at 3 o'clock."

"Teatime?" 

"Exactly."

* * *

"So you have decided to finally give out declarations uh?" The Major said walking into his room. 

"Yes, and I want you to be there." 

"Kid-"

"It's not for that, I have resigned that won't be, but I still want you there, The Long Walk is an important thing."

"Alright kid I be there." 

"3 o'clock, o’ dot." 

"Sure" The Major took out his cigar, and walked out. 

* * *

"It's going to be on the oval office right?" The Maid asked him for the tenth time. 

"Yes. I'm the winner it can be wherever I feel like."

"I know, Sir." 

"I don't want guards or soldiers there, just the cameras me and him."

"Alright, Sir" She finished writing it down on her notepad, she looked like a waitress of some kind.

Stebbins reached for the gun on his nightstand.

* * *

Stebbins stood up, The Maid had been gone all day, he didn't hold himself up the wall, walking forward as slowly as he could, marching towards death. 

He stood in front of the door, he had seen it before on TV, everybody had, it was as grand as it always appeared to be, but he was more. 

He had won, he had survived, he was here, and everybody was going to know it now. 

He opened the door, it had been left unlocked for him, since the first time he had said he wanted it to be. 

The place was pristine, full-on American dream, the picture windows, and the books were blinding, and purely decorative.

He traced his hand on top of the desk, feeling the clean, fresh, old stinking wood, under his fingertips.

He lowered himself onto the blue chair, both arms on, his legs crossed. 

He pulled the gun out of his green old sweater, and placed it right out of sight, behind the glorious desk. 

Until the bell rang. 

3 clear noises. 

The room was suddenly infested by The Crowd. 

Stebbins had realized The Crowd was a shifting being, it could take any and every form just to come back, and haunt him. He was going to show them. 

Cameras pointed at him, mics out, the same reporter woman from before, the blood was dripping down his face again, into his lips, into his ears. 

He could see the road in front of him, the voice and its hand on his shoulder. 

The door broke open, The Major coming out of his Jeep, sunglasses on. You are not my son. 

Stebbins took the gun, and shot him. 

The Major grabbed his chest, holding the hole on his chest, dripping blood, dripping blood everywhere, bloodstains in the shape of footsteps. 

“Listen up everybody! This pig is my father and a bunch of other bastard kids father! He's society's supported psychopath! He's the one who kills your children every year, and intervenes your phone lines!" 

He shot him again, the world seemed on standby, he was counting down the seconds somebody would have to burst through that door, but he wasn't going to let them take him away, not until this man was dead. 

"That pig bleeding out on the floor is your beloved major, is my father what do you all think about it, uh, uh!?" 

He shot him again, and again, and again. 

"What do you think, uh!?" He screamed at The Crowd for an answer, The Crowd only knew how to scream back, feeding after blood, any blood, all blood, his blood. 

He was the one behind the gun, the one offering the sacrifice this time., 

He was the one in control, and his father could only stare at him, twitching around on the ground, like a half-dead bug, just like all those boys. 

"Look at him! Look at me!" He shot him again, the magazine was running out. 

"Look at me father! Look!" 

The door burst open, squad members wrecking the microphones, cameras, and, screens. 

He laughed, he shot him again. 

Two squad members grabbed his arms and slammed him against the desk, the gun flew away, they raised him up, and carried him somewhere. 

He blacked out, the blood was like bronze rusting metal to his tongue.

* * *

He woke up, facing the scorching sun, he almost thought he had been dreaming on The Walk. 

But no. He looked around himself, a desolated wasteland, he was secured to a pole, completely tied from head to toe.

The Crowd far far away, and yet so close, cameras all on him. 

All eyes on him. 

He heard a voice, it wasn't the same as back then, he zoned out while it spoke. 

"And for crimes against the fatherland, against The Major. He shall be executed by fusillade!"

**Third warning 88. Final warning 88**

Stebbins?

The guns rang out. 

Them all for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Fifth Day of The Long Walk Week but Im late cuz Im not good at editing


End file.
